Main points
While crime has fallen over the long-term, the short-term picture
is more stable with most types of crime staying at similar levels
to 2016. It is too early to say whether this indicates a change
to the overall trend or simply a pause, which has happened
before. The exceptions to this stable picture are rises in some
types of theft and in lower-volume but higher-harm types of
violence, and a fall in the high-volume offence of computer
misuse.
As these figures cover a broad range of crime types and there is
variation in the trends by crime type, it is better to consider
the different types individually to understand these
changes.
A fall in crime estimated by the Crime Survey for England and
Wales (CSEW) was mainly driven by a 28% decrease in computer
misuse offences, largely due to a decline in computer viruses.
For offences that are well recorded by the police, police
recorded crime data provide insight into areas that the survey
does not cover well. These include the less frequent but
higher-harm violent offences, which showed rises:
- a 22% increase in offences involving knives or other sharp
instruments
- an 11% increase in firearms offences
These offences tend to be disproportionately concentrated in
London and other metropolitan areas.
There was also evidence of a rise in vehicle-related theft
offences, with the latest CSEW estimates showing a 17% increase
compared with the previous year. This is consistent with rises
seen in the number of vehicle-related theft offences recorded by
the police.
Police figures also indicate a rise in burglary (9% increase),
which is thought to reflect a genuine increase in this type of
crime.
To put these figures into context, most people do not experience
crime. In the year ending December 2017, 8 in 10 adults were not
a victim of any of the crimes asked about in the CSEW.
Many of the findings reported in this bulletin are consistent
with those reported in the year ending September 2017 bulletin,
released in January 2018.
Crime in England and
Wales: year ending December 2017
